Killer Chefs has a new home

Killer Chefs has a new home at www.killerchefs.com check us out and let us know what you think about the new website. you can also like us on facebook killerchefs. We have so much planned this year with some great hunts and great food so stay tuned. J

Herb Garden

Well it has been awhile since my last post. Sometimes I let all the projects in my head over run me but this time I actually finished one. I had decided that the empty holes under the window sill would be a great spot for some planter boxes. Problem is I am horrible at working with wood. Enter Ryan from Captured Craft and Design. After a few nights we had new planter boxes built, painted and ready for dirt. Now the question is what to put in it? First I knew I had to have tomatoes in it, I love the taste of fresh tomatoes off the vine in the summer sun. I also have had good luck growing basil in the past. Thyme is a good herb to go with wild game so that was high on the list as well as rosemary, cilantro, oregano and parsley. I also threw in some stevia and a few citronella plants to help keep the mosquitoes away. We added some solar lights and a few hundred lady bugs and we are ready to go.The boxes really look great and we have really enjoyed having the fresh herbs to cook with, it really makes a difference.

Rabbit: the sustainable meat

So I've been going out to the ranch and having some fun shooting rabbits with the .22 . Rabbit is by far one of my favorite game meats.  It's tender, easy to cook and a very sustainable meat source.  More and more restaurants are finding rabbit on their menus.

I just finished this dish.  It's rabbit two ways: rabbit dumpling and tenderloin with hen of the woods mushrooms, carrots, cottontail demi and carrot top oil.

Fire Roasted Trout

When you get that Saturday morning call from Kelly saying "lets go trout fishing" you get out of bed and go trout fishing. These delicate flesh in these fish make them perfect for a campfire lunch or dinner.  The trick to great campfire foods is preparation and having the right pantry or goods that you can cook easily.  This is one of my favorite and easy campfire dishes. I did not have fresh mushrooms today but that is one of my favorite ingredients for this dish.

2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped into wheels
2 whole carrots, steamed in advance and cut into half inch chunks (or you could use 8 or so baby carrots)
6 mushroom caps (whatever kind you like)
1 trout, gutted and whole (season with salt and pepper)

1 large spoonful Rotel
1 jalapeno (use half and remove seeds for mild or use whole and keep seeds for hot)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Start by laying out tinfoil that you will eventually make into a pouch to hold your ingredients.  Arrange your ingredients in layers:  butter, onion wheels, carrots chunks, mushroom caps, whole fish, Rotel, jalapeno.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle the olive oil over all ingredients and fold up the foil.

Place the tinfoil pouch on the hot coals and cook for about 15 minutes.  Carefully remove the tinfoil package and enjoy all the flavors as they melt together.

Duck Stuffing

I’ve always had the mindset that if you're going to kill waterfowl you should eat it.  But a buddy raised the question, what about your taxidermy birds?  I guess that stumped me.  I put some thought into it and I have to say taxidermy is honoring the beauty of the bird.

I had a opportunity to spend a little time with Matt Smith of Birdworks Taxidermy, one of the premier avian artists in the country.  Matt works out of a little shop that makes the place I work out of look like the Taj Mahal.  As I made it to the door, the sounds of southern rock and the smell of duck was in the air.  I found Matt working on one of the nicest looking hooded mergansers I’ve ever seen.  My first impression was how focused, almost to a neurotic level, Matt is on these birds.  He is constantly preening, pulling and shaping the feathers, wings, heads and feet trying to create perfection.  Now to a untrained eye the birds may look the same when I walked in as they did when I left, but to Matt’s eye the imperfections are maddening.

Q. KC: When do you stop?

A. MS: (laughing) I don’t stop messing with them till they're in the cars and driving off.

Matt got into taxidermy at a young age when his father took him to get a bird mounted.  When his father found out the cost it might as well had been a million dollars.  Matt found an ad for a series of books on taxidermy in the back of a Field & Stream magazine and swiftly ordered his very own copy.  Matt has done everything from the mouse to the elephant, but birds always are special to him.

KC:  Why birds?

MS: I'm not knocking guys who do deer mounts, but the form dictates the mount.   With birds you can do so much more.

KC: What keeps you cutting edge? Excuse the pun.

MS: I study birds every night.  When I was starting out, reference material was limited to Ducks Unlimited magazines.   But with the power of the internet we now have unlimited amounts of references to look at.  I am constantly looking for the subtle nuances that define each species.

KC:  What birds are the most special for you to work on?

MS:  Birds for the kids.  I'll get birds for sick children and you want to get those back to them as quick as possible.  Those are special.

KC:  So how many birds do you have in your collection?

MS:  I don’t keep them.  I would be critiquing them all the time.

All the time we talked Matt would be working on one bird and something would catch is eye on a flying canvasback on the wall and he would mess with that one.  Then he would brush the head on a big mallard hanging on the stand, then back to the wood duck that is slated to go out the door when its lucky owner comes to pick it up.

I appreciate the fact that Matt can’t stop messing with the birds.  It's great for the lucky person that shot the bird but bad for a business owner I guess.  Whatever it is, it keeps people bringing him birds.

Matt will mount around 300 birds a year out of his tiny one man shop but he will never lose his passion for waterfowl.  This was evident when my cell phone rang (mallard ringtone) and Matt went to run out the door just to see a duck flying over his house.

Now I can see the similarity between being a chef and being a taxidermist.  You have to know anatomy, understand your customers, work long hours,  and be willing continue to work on your craft.

You can check out Matt's website Birdworks Taxidermy by clicking on the link 

Thank you Lone star outdoors show!!

I entered one of my photos in there photo of the month contest and won. Here is the picture.
go to www.lonestaroutdoorshow.com  and check out there great site.

Ice kept me from work but not from staying warm.

Well sleet and snow covered the roads overnight. So what does any self respecting Texan do?
put some cheesy corn bread in the oven and chili on the stove. hope everyone is staying warm.

Reflections of the 2011 duck hunting season

Well this year was A lot different from years past. I had to be more self sufficient while hunting, I had to call more than I ever did, and didn’t have my trust swamp donkey to help carry the heavy loads. What did stand out for me was the fact that I had Cash. No I didn’t hit the Texas lottery I got a dog. Cash was my tireless hunting partner in the blind all year long. This was his first year and I don’t think it could have been any better. I got to see him grow from a puppy to a full on hunting machine. I often would say after each hunt, when I was at my most tired that I should start eating pro plan dog food so I could have his level of energy. It was almost impossible to break his spirit and there were days that should have.  And for that I thank him. I did not fulfill my entire hunting checklist, I am still chasing the perfect drake widgeon but I more than surpassed some of the things I wanted to do.  Now its time to start cooking...keep checking back for more to come.

First week out

Well it wasn't the "shoot em up" weekend I had hoped for but it gave me a chance to do a little shooting with the camera.  Cash is now nine months old and is working great just need some fine tuning before teal season starts this weekend.  Here are a few of my favorite pics from the hunt.

So it begins

   Hunters that have been sitting around since the last day of the season, having withdraws like a hunting junkie with trigger fingers itching, are now taking there first drink of the new season.
In Texas the opening of dove season is a breakfast of a kind of religion. Hunters praying that that the days leading up to September 1st would go faster, and that the harvest is plentiful, that they can shoot a little straighter, and drop the birds a little closer.  Sometimes forgetting that the season most often than not starts with hot weather, swarms of mosquitoes, and all too early mornings. Remembering to bring a cooler of ones favorite cold beverage and hopefully a hunting buddy or two that are right by their sides. Drawing from memories past, the familiar smell of gunpowder and freshly mowed fields that will soon resonate in the morning air. Yes fellas its here, the doves are in the sky, the bacon is in the fridge and shells are in the chamber. So go have a great hunt, and thank God for the creation of hunting season.

Texas fruits

One of my back door neighbors Peter invited me over to check out the fruit trees in his back yard. He has some great fig, persimmon, and date trees. He also gave me a big bag of fresh frozen figs that he harvested which will make awesome sauces, chutneys and jams.

seasoning

Hunting season is less that a month away and we are gearing up for what we hope will be a great one. check back with us regularly for updates on whats going on.